Monday, January 26, 2009

Change in Washington and Elsewhere--Latest News

Several news items in the last 24 hours' worth of e-mail. Our friends at Integrity in Science Watch report on the reintroduction by Sens. Grassley and Kohl of their Physician Payment Sunshine Act in Congress, and mention in passing that several more academic medical centers appear to be moving in the direction of ordering fuller disclosure of faculty members' payments from the drug and device makers: Harvard joins Cleveland Clinic and Duke in pursuing more sunshine, as does a major health provider in Minnesota, Park Nicolett.

My recent mailing from the American Academy of Family Physicians urges me to write my congressman to support the Obama economic stimulus package, in part because it contains a number of health care investments friendly toward primary care-- one of which is said to be increasing the amount of research the Feds can conduct comparing drugs head to head to determine which is more effective.